Occurrence and characterization of carbon nanoparticles below the soot laden zone of a partially premixed flame

An experimental study has been performed to detect the occurrence of nanosized carbon particulates below the soot laden zone of a co-flowing partially premixed flame. Samples have been extracted from different points across the flame and passed through DI water. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies have been performed with the collected water suspensions. The occurrence of carbon nanoparticles is evident across the inner flame front. In addition, evidence of naphthalene has also been found inside the inner rich premixed flame. The concentration of naphthalene decreases while that of the carbon nanoparticles increases as the inner flame front is reached. The stability of the nanoparticles in the sample has been ensured by observing that the change in fluorescence quantum yield from the sample over a long duration is small. The band gap energy has been evaluated using the absorption data to characterize the likely structures of the particles in the collected suspension. Two kinds of particles having different zones of band gap energy are found in the flame. Dynamic light scattering measurements show that the particle size grows with the increase in height in the lower part of the flame. While, at 3 and 6 mm elevations the particles are observed to be below 2.5 nm in diameter, the particles at 10 mm elevation are found in the size range of 2.5–5.5 nm.